Kristi Kates | Author

“The Nutcracker” is known worldwide as the traditional Christmas ballet and a must-see for many. But this year, Interlochen Center for the Arts has decided to do something a little different for the holiday season and will be telling the story of “The Sleeping Beauty&rdq...
Read More >>

The much-anticipated return of The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye, is here, staking its claim to electrified alt-R&B on the title track, which finds the artist collaborating with Daft Punk as the tun...
Read More >>

After fighting a long-running battle with cancer, Sharon Jones, vocalist for the revivalist R&B band Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, passed away last week. Jones, known for her raucous, energetic performances and soulful voice, leaves behind seven albums with the Dap-Kings, the band t...
Read More >>

If you can’t get enough of museums and love sharing knowledge with others, you just might want to be a docent. A docent is a combination of trained museum guide, informal teacher and enthusiastic volunteer. It can be an opportunity to dig deep into what your favorite museum has to o...
Read More >>

Santa Claus has been visiting Castle Fams every Christmas season since 2009. But over the past several years, ol’ Saint Nick has been taking something of a backseat to his train collection, which has been drawing a big crowd of adult model train aficionados right alongside the kids....
Read More >>

It’s never too early to start thinking about what gifts to buy this holiday shopping season. Here are 20 suggestions available at local shops or online for everyone on your list from art lovers to that certain someone who aspires to live in northern Michigan.

When the head baker hails from Brittany, France, you can pretty much expect exceptional pastries, and that definitely rings true at Boyne City Bakery.One of the bakery’s most popular items is the kouign-amann (pronounced kween a-mon) as baked by Gildas Berrou. He has more than...
Read More >>

A lamp shaped like a stockinged leg, with a garish fringed shade and a black high-heeled shoe at the base. A Little Orphan Annie secret decoder pin. And a Red Ryder range model air rifle that’s spoken of with the foreboding warning, “You’ll shoot your eye out.” Read More >>

The four divisions of Petoskey’s Manna Food Project, the nonprofit that helps feed the hungry in Emmet, Charlevoix and Antrim counties, complement each other well. The first three are the food bank; the food rescue program, in which Manna rescued and redistributed a half-milli...
Read More >>

Five years ago, Oisin Mac Diarmada and his traveling variety show, “An Irish Christmas in America,” made not one, but two journeys — one by plane across the Atlantic to get from Ireland to America, and the second a two-hour boat ride to Beaver Island, Michigan’s ow...
Read More >>